Darkness
The Darkness, occasionally referred to as Shadow Mario and Dark Mario, is a substance created by Nox Decious with the ancient magic spell El Nox de la Shateu, translating to the Darkness of the Shadow. He created the Darkness to bind his soul to the Stone of Righteousness. The Darkness is a minor character and the secondary antagonist of Season Three, the main antagonist of The Movie, one of the main antagonists in Season Four, and a supporting protagonist of Season Five, now that the Bay of Darkness forces with the Mushroom Force. Originally obedient, the Darkness performed as ordered. However, over the years, the Darkness grew to despise its master, as it lived on Decious's soul for centuries. Eventually, they were separated by the Nether Saber when Wario stabbed Decious. This led the Darkness to take off so that it may find a new soul to attach to. After briefly possessing Mario, the Darkness took Mario's energy and combined it with the power that it absorbed from its original master to take on the physical shape of its most powerful host. Though Merlin believed he would have the form of Nox Decious, Mario correctly suspected that the Darkness would look identical to himself. The Darkness obtained half of Mario's spirit in the process, which would slowly change him into a lesser evil. Biography Background When Merlin's corrupted brother Nox Decious was researching the Stone of Righteousness and its powers of preventing death, he wanted to fuse it with his body so it would not be taken from him. After having his face scarred by Merlin, Nox cast the ancient spell El Nox de la Shateu, which translates to "The Darkness in the Shadow." This spell created the Darkness, which Decious said would be a tool to help in his dominating of the world. He sent the Darkness to find the Stone of Righteousness, connect the stone to itself, and merge itself to Decious' soul. Season Three When Nox Decious was killed, the Darkness needed a new body to attach itself to and it knew the most powerful person was Mario, so it chose to attach itself to him, in order to gain more power. It possessed Mario in a form of rage, making him attack Wario. The Darkness then combined the energy it took from Decious with the energy it took from Mario and left him. Darkness left Mario weak, but it had enough power to sustain itself and take physical form. The Darkness then took on the form of it's most powerful host: Mario. But Merlin was unaware that Mario was The Darkness' most powerful host; and assumed that it would take the form of his brother Nox Decious. ]] The Darkness really never had much of a role in Season Three, as Wario was the main villain. Season Three only shows how The Darkness was formed and was used for foreshadowing Stupid Mario Brothers: The Movie. He did, however, try to convince Waluigi to kill Mario like he did Wario, but fails, as Waluigi is smarter and more reasonable than Wario. The Darkness convinces Wario to kill off Mario and recharge the saber. The Darkness later obtains Nox's hidden Black Widow Blade from the Orchard, which Decious planned to use to deal the killing blow to Mario during their battle. Later, it is revealed that The Darkness serves Nox Decious. The Movie The Darkness is attempting to help Nox Decious claim a vessel in Luigi so he may then kill Decious. He also plans to become immortal, and to do so he decides to eliminate Mario's friends in order of their strength. The Darkness first confronts Link, who has been lost in the Woods for some time. The two fight, but Link is killed when Darkness impales him with the Black Widow Blade. He then tries to claim the Artifact, but is angered when he learns that Link had sealed it inside his soul. He then confronts Bowser after he lost to Mario once again. Darkness attempts to strike a deal with him, but Bowser denies it and heads back to his portal leading to the Mushroom Kingdom. The Darkness then says to himself that, even if Bowser had become his ally, he would have killed him in the end. He later arrives at the Orchard once again, stating that, once he is rid of "him," he will no longer have to hide in his shadow, and is then encountered by Ness. Ness tells him that he was informed of this by the letter Mario sent, and attempts to kill the Darkness. His PK Thunder attack fails, so he attempts to charge The Darkness with his baseball bat, which also fails. Ness is defeated, but he informs the Darkness that he will meet his end soon. The Darkness is somewhat merciful, as he allows Ness to walk away from the fight alive. While Snake is out in the field attempting to contact Otacon, Liquid Snake appears behind him, informing him that, with his new ally, who turns out to be The Darkness, he will take over the world. Liquid leaves as the Darkness insults Snake, and he attempts to kill him but is stopped by Luigi. The two battle for a short time before Luigi is defeated, as well as having his physical form being taken over by the spirit of Nox Decious. Mario shows up after Luigi is supposedly killed, lamenting for him. Luigi does get up, but only for Mario to be informed that he has been taken over, now going by the name Mr. L. The Darkness then stabs Mario from behind with the Black Widow Blade, killing him. The Darkness then states that he no longer holds any allegiance toward Decious, informing him that he only served Decious and helped him in taking over Luigi just so he could kill him and rule the world himself. Shortly after, Wario appears and demands to fight the Darkness. The Darkness is able to impale the Black Widow Blade through Wario, presumably killing him. The Darkness believes that Wario didn't have the truth stone after all, and wonders where it is. Suddenly, The Darkness stops in his tracks and monologue and finds that the the Nether Saber has been thrown through his back by Wario, who was faking his death and actually was protected by the stone. The Darkness laments having been cut off from having more fun before laughing maniacally and presumably dying. Afterward, Wario retrieves the Black Widow Blade and puts it in his pocket. He then goes to The Darkness' dead body and tells him to, "Rest in hell." It is later revealed to Wario by Merlin that only a specific counter-curse can destroy The Darkness in an absolute sense; Waluigi was supposed to give Wario the means to perform this curse, but forgot. The Darkness, meanwhile, comes back to life, casts off his hat, stating that he no longer needs to associate himself with Mario anymore, and swears revenge on Wario, joyously shouting, "I'm back!" Whether Merlin knew it or not, the Darkness knew about the counter-curse, so he forms a long-term plan behind the backs of the heroes. He studies everything Nox Decious had learned, which included his knowledge of Beam Swords, allowing him to create several beam swords that mimicked and surpassed the power of the Black Widow Blade. When he discarded his hat, he really transferred almost his entire being into it, except his body and mind. He then recruits a boy named John, whose name he changes to Blaire Vherestorm upon striking a deal with Darkness, and the two of them build an energy-source designed for after his destruction. Wario then returns to battle the Darkness one more time. After an initial struggle, Wario pins The Darkness to the ground, says the counter curse, and supposedly kills him for good. However, Wario only killed a shell, and The Darkness was actually dormant in the hat. ''Operation: Blind Storm'' The Darkness plays a major role within Operation: Blind Storm. His hat is found by Ness and Solid Snake. When Ness puts the hat on briefly, the The Darkness transfers himself into Ness, taking control of him. The Darkness uses Ness to lead Snake to the energy source. Ness, still being controlled by the Darkness, tells Snake to destroy it, while Wario tells him otherwise. Since Ness is psychic, the Darkness knew they'd trust him over Wario and Snake destroys the source. The Darkness then speaks to the entire group, telling them that the energy source was a beacon that connected their powers from the other worlds, and that they're now powerless. The warriors believed that the Darkness would never rise again, but it is later revealed that the Beacon's destruction only made him more powerful. Season Four With the destruction of the beacon, the powers of Ness, Luigi, Mario, and Wario are transferred to the Darkness, making him the most powerful being in existence. However, he is unable to take physical form, and while he tries to take a new one because Mario's was the first one he took. He realizes that his spirit will only take physical form when Mario and his friends regain their powers first. He orders Blaire to create the Trifecta to force Mario and the others to regain their powers. However, knowing about Ganondorf's plan, he warns Blaire to cease action the moment Mario has gotten his powers in order to have him defeat Ganondorf, which would allow the Darkness to take over instead. He obtains his physical form soon after, but doesn't let Blaire know about this so he can be sure Blaire follows his orders. Blaire betrays him by attacking Mario, and The Darkness reveals himself. Allowing Mario to escape, The Darkness confronts Blaire. Disgusted at his former apprentice's orders, The Darkness kills Blaire with a Black Widow Blade replica and walks off to find Mario. The Darkness explains to Mario his plan in it's entirety, why he killed Blaire, and warns him of Ganondorf. He then walks off in order to build his own army in case Mario fails to stop Ganondorf. Season Five At the start of Season 5, the Darkness meets with General. He tells him of his changing of hair and complains about General not forming his army. However, he is then shown his army, which he thanks General for. He then is warned by General about the upcoming ninja attack. He then responds with an attack by his forces and then summons Ken for the task. He along with Ken and General confront Zubashi and the ninjas. The Darkness then summons his pirates to fight the ninjas. They are victorious and Ken knocks out Zubashi. He then orders General to shoot the remaining ninjas except for one to be followed by Ganon's base. The Darkness then orders Ken to follow the ninja back to Ganon's base. ]] He, along with Ken and General, arrives at the base in the midst of Mario's battle with the Legion of Villains. He orders General to kill the ninjas and freezes the Legion members in place when they rush him, allowing him to confront Ganondorf alone. The Darkness seems to have the upper hand until Ganondorf overpowers him with a telekinetic push. Defeated, Darkness teleports, Ken, General, and Mario and friends back to their bases. Later at his base, he is mad about Ganon's power, while General suggests looking for Link, an idea, which Darkness turns down, as he did kill Link once before. He then decides to do something he never thought he had to do, while Ken attempts to ask what he's talking about, the Darkness rushes over to close his mouth. He later meets up with Luigi and Wario and suggests a team-up between their two armies to take down Ganon's. He then gets mad at them for indirectly breaking the fourth wall, an idea which they don't understand. Finally, he then asks them one more time about the team up. He then falls asleep while waiting for their answer. They agree to let Darkness work with them and he gives them full use of his pirates. He is later told by Ken about Zubashi and the ninjas' upcoming invasion. He then tells Ryu and Ken to spend their time as they please till the invasion comes. However he regrets it when he forgets to tell them about getting him something to eat. While he is waiting for the two to return, Darkness begins questioning his placement in the war, now believing himself not to want to take over the world anymore. Instead, he believes his purpose is to kill Nox Decious. With this in mind, Darkness begins recalling his conversation with Mr. L and how ambivalent Nox Decious was when he'd tried to threaten him. Darkness is then met by General, who informs him that the ninjas are on their way. Darkness is glad that he'll finally be able to get this over with, and General asks him what his orders are. Darkness pauses, then tells General to go home, granting him an "honorable discharge". General is confused at first and is hesitant, but Darkness reminds General of his wife and kids and dismisses him. General leaves for good and Darkness declares it time for the death of Nox Decious. After killing several ninjas, Wario was mortally injured by Decious, and was later carried to Dr. Naomi Hunter by Mona as the Darkness came and took over the battle. Nox Decious spent a majority of the battle moving away as the Darkness brutally attempted to attack. As the fight progressed, the Darkness became more and more frustrated when Decious escaped him. Eventually, the two got to the ground and crawled towards each other. Both pulled their beam swords to each other. The Darkness and Decious stabbed each other in the stomach. Nox Decious believed Ganondorf would triumph, though the Darkness believed he was wrong. He assured Decious that he could find satisfaction in the fact that he finally killed his creator. As Decious toppled over, the Darkness fell silent for a few seconds before realizing it was the end and dropping to the ground. Later, as Mario was in Hyrule, still getting training from Merlin, Mario realized he could not remove the Master Sword. The Darkness spoke to Mario and agreed to give his spirit up along with Link and Merlin so they could combine their souls to give him the power needed, but giving up was remained of themselves to Mario. This gives him power enough to wield the Master Sword and kill Ganondorf. Character Overview The Darkness was originally pure evil, as it was created by evil magic from Nox Decious. The Darkness grew to have eventually hated Decious as it was forced to live inside him for centuries. When the Darkness took on human form, it began to become overpowered by Mario's spirit. Eventually, the Darkness found that it was not truly evil anymore. It eventually died after not only killing its former creator, but saving Wario's life in the process. Personality The Darkness' personality goes through changes throughout the series. Not much was explored throughout Season 3, but he was shown to be a calm and calculating individual, only showing anger when Nilrem revealed himself to be Merlin. In the Movie, he was shown to be more mentally unstable, breaking into fits of insane laughter and describing all the horrible things he did and could have done as 'fun'. Also, he was determined to differentiate himself from the real Mario, and often referred to the latter simply as "him" in a derisive manner, except when he addressed Mario, where he called him by the name. Despite his love for killing, he showed mercy on Ness by letting him go after defeating him. Despite his insanity, the Darkness is highly intelligent, finding out about Merlin's counter curse to kill him and working out a long term plan to rise to power and take over the world. The Darkness, however, can carry a conversation well enough. He has a sense of humor and can be playful at times. This side of him is mostly seen in Season Five as he has dreams of fighting Decious and enjoys reading magazines, ironically enough, the same sort as Decious. However, by the end of Season 5, he begins to question what his goal is, no longer desiring conquest. According to Richie in the May 13th update, The Darkness has become more humane from absorbing the heroes' powers. This shows when he dismisses General right before the major battle, showing genuine concern for the well-being of General's family if he were to die. Abilities As his physical body was created from the combined energy of Mario and Nox Decious, the Darkness has their combined power at his disposal. He mostly displays Mario's abilities, such as throwing fireballs, and is also able to teleport and turn invisible like Nox Decious. Because both Mario and Decious are both skilled with a beam sword, the Darkness demonstrates great skill himself. He was also able to perfect Decious' knowledge and techniques, allowing him to create superior replicas of the Black Widow Blade. The Darkness is also capable of surviving mortal wounds to some extent: when he fought Wario in Act II Part 3, he was able to recover from being impaled through the back with the Nether Saber, though he was in a death-like state for some time. He later told Mario that the killing blow Wario dealt him in their second battle would have indeed killed him had he not stored his essence in his hat. After the events of Blind Storm, he also obtained the combined powers of Wario, Luigi, and Ness. Attire In his original form, the Darkness looked like a dark version of Mario. He wore black overalls over a black shirt with chains under a trench coat and black gloves. He wore a hat similar to Mario's and had dark rings around his eyes. He wielded the Black Widow Blade until his first duel with Wario. Eventually, he got rid of his trench coat and discarded his hat, saying that "I have no need of that disgusting thing any more,"as he did not want to associate itself with Mario, the latter of which he transferred a large percentage of his being. Before his "final" fight with Wario, he seemed to have required a necklace and his hair had orange highlights. In Season 4, his attire is drastically different. Although he still wears the overalls, shirt and the chains he now wears a leather trench coat and has smaller circles around his eyes. His hair is turned red, which he claims he dyed, but is truly a side effect of Mario's energy as both the Darkness and "him" grew stronger. In Season 5, the Darkness has dyed his hair closely back to it's black color, as he was told that "red was not in this year". He is seen without his necklace until the last few episodes. Also, his hair style constantly changes, in the movie, it was sort of flat with a curve in the front, in the last few episodes, (like episode 75) his hair is more like a mohawk. Trivia * Rich Alvarez did not expect Darkness to be so popular with the fans. "I'm actually really surprised at how much people liked The Darkness. The entire time I was playing the character I was always worried that I was doing it wrong and/or bad... I thought he would come off too stupid." * Shadow Mario is never referred to as such on-screen; the other characters only refer to it as "the Darkness." However, both Rich Alvarez and Chris Muller have referred to him as "Shadow Mario." Most notably in the video Unpersuasive Persuasion. * Darkness is actually not human nor is it alive really, since it is only a substance that took on the form of Mario. In Act II Part 6, however, Wario says the counter curse "Obscurem Absentis Humanis," which is Latin for "Darkness be gone and become human." However, the Darkness revealed that it was actually mortal the entire time and was able to survive Wario's killing blows because he stored its being in his hat. Relationships Mario The Darkness as Wario refers to it is Mario's shadow. In the movie, the two were enemies. In Episode 66, Wario welcomes the Darkness as an ally in hopes of defeating Ganondorf. The Darkness does not seem to have a problem with working with Mario. In Episode 75, he even sacrifices his spirit of power to Mario to kill Ganondorf even asking Mario to take Ganon's head, showing that he still has his own agenda even in death. Nox Decious The Darkness was originally created by Nox Decious, but it fed off of his heart for generations. When the Darkness finally split from Decious, he pretended to recognize Decious as his master. However, after he killed Mario and Nox took over Luigi's body, he officially split from Decious, stating that he never cared about Decious and only wanted to give him a new body just for the purpose of killing Decious himself, which he eventually did in episode 75 after Nox was resurrected by Ganon. He has then grown to hate Decious more and more. In Episode 73, Darkness states that his only purpose is to kill Nox Decious. In episode 75, the Darkness and Nox Decious do battle, which results in the two killing each other; Darkness, however, does not mind his death, as he killed Nox Decious. The only reason he had for doing so was to finally rid himself of his past. Category:Characters Category:Original characters Category:Season Three Category:Season Four Category:Season Five Category:The Movie Category:Operation: Blind Storm Category:The Brotherhood of Darkness Category:Deceased